Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC, on Thursday told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) of the “nightmares” endured during the recount of the votes cast in the March 02, 2020 elections and the attempts that were made to frustrate the process.
Nandlall was the final witness to take the stand when the CoI, which is being chaired by retired Justice Stanley John wrapped up on Thursday.
“There was great sloth in transitioning from GECOM to the venue identified for the recount. They had to move all the containers containing the ballot boxes. It was a nightmare to get them to move that. Then to ready the place for the recount, to set up the stations,” Nandlall told the CoI.
“…Even before that they fumigated the entire building they told us that no one can go in there, I don’t know for how many days or weeks until it was certified by some public health expert,” he added.
And even after the recount, Nandlall told the CoI that the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Justice (retired) Claudette Singh experienced difficulty in receiving a report of the election results from former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield.
Instead, he said Lowenfield drafted several reports using doctored figures showing the APNU+AFC coalition had won the elections.
“GECOM had instructed him (Lowenfield) to use the results generated by Order 60, the recount process, abbreviate those results and bring those results and he repeatedly refused to do so,” Nandlall said.
The Commission heard that the report was finally submitted on August 02, 2020 and a declaration was made bringing an end to the months-long election crisis.
Hours before Nandlall took the witness stand, two other witnesses appeared before the CoI. They were Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha and GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj.
Gunraj previously gave evidence before the inquiry. However, since he was listed as one of the six persons who had implicated former Deputy Chief Elections Officer Roxanne Myers in his testimony, he had to be cross-examined by her attorney, Nigel Hughes.
When the CoI resumes on Friday, they are expected to conclude public hearings. A final report is expected to be ready by the end of March 2023.
Gosh…..this is embarrassing….
This was the most blatant barefaced, attempt ever to rig an election.